Amazon Prime Under Fire After F1 Documentary Spotted Using AI: 'Awful Garbage'

Alex Harrington | Jan 3, 2025

Nov 21, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen (20) during practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

A Formula 1 documentary published to Amazon Prime has drawn criticism for its use of AI-generated content. The documentary, which employed AI for its background imagery on the streaming service, was quickly called out by fans for a number of inaccuracies.

The image, shown below, shows the AI image placed behind the information panel on Amazin Prime Video. As you can see, it's obviously an AI-generated image with an overwhelming number of mistakes ranging from slightly wrong to plain impossible.

Amazon's 'Racing Through Time' documentary comes under fire / Amazon Prime screenshot

On top of this, while Amazon claims the documentary was a 2024 release, there are sources that confirm its copyright marking as far back as 2002. On Reddit, where this first came to light, the post has collected an impressive 15,000 upvotes within just seven hours after airing disapproval. and of course, the brilliant community were quick to have a joke about it.

"Say what you will about Ferrari strategy but their decision to put another two wheels on the rear wing in the early 2000s was inspired," one commenter by the name of Gloof-Juice says.

"What about Aston with their bold strategy of deploying a trike on the track?" another asks as a third likens it to Lewis Hamilton's win at Silverstone in 2022 where he crossed the line with only three intact wheels: "So many teams running 3 wheel setups after Hamilton won Silverstone."

Unsurprisingly, Amazon has come under fire for the lack of quality here:

"Yeah, and it's not like this is a picture that would have taken a normal human being long to make. They must have some interns in marketing over at Amazon right? I have the most rudimentary photoshop skills on the planet and i think even i would be able to deliver a better quality picture within an hour of work," [sic] one asks.

Another user answered: "An hour of work requires you to be paid, which is what companies desperately try to avoid. That's the whole purpose of this generative AI shit. Cutting labour costs, so they can further enrich themselves at the top. Quality doesn't matter, they rather take awful garbage free of charge, over decent to good work from an actual human being."

Of course, it's highly unlikely this image was created by Amazon. Instead, it was likely created by the owners of the documentary itself.

The use of AI in media isn't a foreign topic for Amazon Prime Video, which has already faced backlash for employing AI-generated TV show recaps. This trend demonstrates an industry-wide tension as AI grows more capable but also more controversial. There's worry over statical and analytical errors, biases within AI systems, and loss of jobs for human creators.

Mahindra Racing experienced a similar backlash when introducing Ava Rose, an AI-generated influencer intended to add diversity to motorsports.